Author: Basmajian Ani

Calgary Herald: Turkey always denied systematic murder of Armenians in
Ottoman Empire

20.03.2010 15:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ If you want an ugly reminder of the past to stay
there, you shouldn’t throw a fit whenever someone brings it up. This
is a lesson Turkey ought to learn sometime. The world’s freest and
best-developed mostly Muslim democracy has a very large skeleton in
its closet, one to which it has lately been drawing a great deal of
attention, despite harbouring a strong desire that everyone forget
about it completely. That lingering remnant would be the Armenian
Genocide, Calgary Herald Canadian newspaper stated.

`In the spring of 1915, the First World War was in its second year,
while the Ottoman Empire, the precursor to modern Turkey, was on its
sickbed and none too likely to get up again. Believing that their
Armenian inhabitants constituted a potential fifth column which would
work against the Central Powers (the alliance to which the Ottomans
belonged), prominent Ottoman politicians devised a deportation scheme
which provided cover for an organized attempt at mass extermination.
As many as 1.5 million Armenians met horrid ends.

Turkey has always denied any systematic murder and prefers to ascribe
the deaths to the chaos swirling around the Ottoman Empire’s last
days, but reams of historical evidence would say otherwise.

Various countries and groups have taken up the cause of historical
truth and recent weeks have brought more of the same. Three weeks
past, the Parliament of Catalonia, in Spain, recognized the genocide.
Two weeks ago, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of
Representatives squeaked out a resolution (by one vote) which labels
the killings as genocide and last week, Sweden’s parliament, the
Riksdag, passed a similar measure.

Turkey reacted to the moves as it always does, recalling its
ambassadors, cancelling conclaves and hinting grimly about the damage
each country has done to its standing with the Turks. The Swedish and
American governments, which each opposed the motions, appear to
believe this, with the former calling the vote a mistake and the
latter, in the form of the White House, promising to prevent the bill
from passing.

The usual arguments cited for toeing Turkey’s line are its strategic
importance as a bridge between East and West (potentially as a member
of the European Union) as a transit point for Central Asian oil
pipelines, and the country’s NATO membership (Turkey has the
alliance’s second-biggest army and its Incirlik base is a major
staging area for U.S. efforts in Iraq). Dire things will happen, it is
often said, if Turkey is crossed over this issue. At the very least,
its slowly improving relations with Armenia will be hurt, although
these have stalled recently anyways.

Most of this is bunk. Canada officially recognized the Armenian
genocide in 2004 with insignificant consequences, as have nearly two
dozen other countries, and the Harper government ought to encourage
more nations to follow suit. While the Turks bluster and bellow, they
are not about to damage themselves by alienating their most powerful
allies just to distort the truth.

Turkey’s chances of joining the EU are slim since most Europeans and
an increasing number of Turks don’t want to see it happen, while
Incirlik is of diminishing importance as the U.S. draws down in Iraq.
The Turks are not about to give up the revenues they earn from the
pipelines, nor do they want a Russia-like reputation for erratic
behaviour, which would encourage potential customers to look
elsewhere. There are too many oil-rich competitors (like Canada) who
could potentially fill the gap.

Aside from the harm recognition of the Armenian Genocide would do to
their puffed-up nationalist preconceptions, Turkish opposition centres
on fears of being forced to pay hefty compensation to their victims’
descendants. They can put their minds at ease. There is no interest in
forcing Turkey to make reparations, not least because plenty of other
countries have self-inflicted historical black marks which would get
undesired attention if they pushed Turkey to literally pay for its
crimes. In this case, a hug and a handshake will work fine,’ Tim
Giannuzzi concluded in his article.

BULGARIA’S CONSERVATIVE PARTY SUBMITS TO PARLIAMENT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DECLARATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.03.2010 15:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Bulgaria’s conservative Order, Law, and Justice
(RZS) party is submitting with the Parliament Thursday an official
declaration asking that Bulgaria condemns the Armenian genocide
committed by Turkey.

The declaration is in connection with the Thursday visit of Turkish
Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, to Bulgaria and statements of
Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan that the country is prepared to
extradite 100 000 Armenians.

RZS is also requesting an official answer from Prime Minister, Boyko
Borisov, about the policy of the cabinet regarding the Armenian
genocide during World War I.

The party leader, Yane Yanev, says they aim at reaching a consensus
about Bulgaria’s assessment of the tragic events and giving a clear
statement in defense of historical truth as the US and Sweden have
done, Novinite.com reported.

US Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee and the Swedish Parliament
recently approved resolutions to brand the 1915 killing of Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, stirring outrage in Turkey.

ARCHBISHOP ATESHYAN: ARMENIAN COMMUNITY UNANIMOUS ABOUT NEW CONSTANTINOPLE PATRIARCH ELECTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.03.2010 20:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian community is unanimous about the
election of new Patriarch of Constantinople, according to His
Eminence Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, the Patriarchal Locum Tenens of
Constantinople.

"The matter is that some wish a co-ruler to be elected and some wish
to elect a new Patriarch," His Eminence Ateshyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter.

At that, he did not specify any date for the election. "The Jewish
community of Istanbul had been waiting for the permission of the
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a year. We made our appeal
just three months ago," he said.

His Eminence Ateshyan also commented on the meeting between the
representatives of religious minorities in Turkey with Deputy Prime
Minister Cemil Cicek. "We expressed our concerns about a number of
issues. The government pledged to resolve them as well as initiate
a process of return of our property," he said.

ANKARA DEMANDS WRITTEN GUARANTEES FROM WASHINGTON

armradio.am
17.03.2010 17:46

Turkey demands written guarantees from US to send its Ambassador back
to Washington.

"Ankara should have written guarantees that the resolution will not be
put on the House floor. Only in this case Ambassador Tan will return
to Washington," Taraf daily quoted a source speaking on condition
of anonymity.

Turkey recalled its Ambassador to the US, Tamik Tan, minutes after the
adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution by the House Committee
on Foreign Relations.

Meanwhile, Ambassador to Sweden Zergun Koruturk, who was recalled
after the Swedish Riksdag passed a resolution recognizing the genocide
of Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Pontiac Greeks, has already
returned to Stockholm.

BRITISH JUSTICE MINISTER TELLS ERDOGAN GENOCIDE BILL WON’T PASS

Tert.am
10:09 â~@¢ 17.03.10

British Justice Minister Jack Straw on Tuesday assured Turkey’s prime
minister that Parliament would not pass a resolution recognizing the
Armenian Genocide, CNNTurk reported, according to Hurriyet Daily News &
Economic Review.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in London on an
official visit Tuesday, during which he was scheduled to meet with
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

"The chance of this becoming law is zero," Straw said, according to
the CNNTurk website. "I can assure everyone on this issue."

After the Swedish parliament adopted an Armenian Genocide resolution
last week, many have turned their attention to the British Parliament,
where a draft will be submitted to a House of Commons committee after
a second reading on April 30.

If it is approved, an "Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day" will be
established in the country.

"The English government and the opposition do not support this draft,"
Straw said.

The British committee is scheduled to hold its last evaluation in
late March; the first reading of the draft was made Jan. 6. A similar
draft will follow the same process in the British House of Lords.

THE ARMY IS BEATEN: WHY THE U.S. SHOULD HAIL THE ISLAMISTS
By Owen Matthews

Newsweek
March 15, 2010

The political logic should be simple. The arrest of a shadowy group
of generals for allegedly plotting a bloody coup should be a victory
for justice. The end of military meddling in politics should be a
victory for democracy. And greater democracy should make a country
more liberal and more pro-European.

Except that in Turkey, political logic doesn’t always follow simple
patterns. Yes, last week’s arrests of dozens of Army officers on
charges of plotting bombings and murders are a win for civilian
prosecutors over the once untouchable military. More important,
the arrests also mark the quiet demise of the military as a decisive
force in Turkish politics for the first time in centuries. That’s a
vital step in Turkey’s road to becoming a mature democracy.

But the paradox is that a more democratic Turkey doesn’t necessarily
mean one that is more pro-European or more pro-American. And with the
last major obstacle to the ruling AK Party’s power gone, Turkey’s
conservative prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will be free to
implement his vision of a more Islamic Turkey. More democracy, then,
doesn’t necessarily lead to more liberalism, either.

The first victim of the new order may be Europe. Ever since they came
to power in 2002, AK Party leaders have used EU membership as a shield
to defend their reform programs against attacks from ultrasecularists
in the military and the judiciary. Notionally, the military was in
favor of joining Europe, so the AK Party railroaded through most of
its most radical changes under the EU’s banner. Downscaling the powers
of the military-dominated National Security Council, banning the death
penalty, scrapping some restrictions on free speech, allowing Kurdish
language rights–all were in the Copenhagen criteria set by the EU.

But now that the AK Party’s main rival, the military, has been shown
to be a paper tiger, there’s not much utility for Erdogan & Co. in
pushing the European project any further.

That’s terrible timing for Europe. Support within the EU for further
expansion is fading fast. A looming crisis over Cyprus threatens to
create further animosity on both sides as EU members Greece and Greek
Cyprus threaten to block Ankara’s accession bid. Add to that various
tin-eared EU initiatives, like trying to get the conservative Turks
to allow gay marriage, and you have a recipe for trouble. Turks are
also angry because of the EU’s many unfulfilled promises over opening
Cyprus’s ports to international trade. The AK Party’s win over the
Army could well prove to be the EU’s serious loss.

It also raises a tough question for Washington: does the U.S. want
Middle East allies who are less democratic but more friendly, or more
democratic but more hostile to America? During the Cold War, when
the military was in charge, Turkey fell into the first camp. Now it
makes sense for Washington to choose democracy–even if the outcomes
aren’t, as George W. Bush found in Iraq, always pro-Western. Cutting
the Army’s dead hand from politics will allow Turkey to define
secularism democratically and to deal openly with issues like the
demands of the Kurdish minority for autonomy. That choice should be
particularly easy now, as evidence presented by Turkish prosecutors
suggest that the self-declared guardians of Turkey’s secular order
plotted heinous crimes in order to destabilize the AK Party, possibly
including the bombing of the British Consulate in Istanbul in 2003.

If Turkey becomes more anti-Western, that’s probably inevitable. A
storm of popular anger is brewing over the EU’s undeclared rejection
of Turkish membership, even as the accession process continues, and
over moves in the U.S. Congress to recognize the massacres of Ottoman
Armenians in 1915 as a genocide. If the vote goes ahead, expect Turks
to retaliate, perhaps by refusing to support U.S. sanctions against
Iran in the U.N. Security Council.

Turks have made it clear repeatedly at the ballot box that they
endorse the AK Party’s vision of a less-rigorously secular country.

Ordinary Turks aren’t huge fans of the U.S., either. But it’s also
clear that Turkey under the AK Party will remain a Western ally, and
NATO will remain Ankara’s most important strategic partner. How do
we know? The AK Party says so, and it has no real options. There’s
no rival alliance, not with Iran, the Arab world, or Russia, which
could possibly rival the clout Turkey has, with the second-largest
Army in NATO. In the short term, Turkey will likely sour on the EU
and have a loud row with the U.S. over Armenia. In the long term,
the downfall of the Army will make Turkey a stronger democracy and
a more stable and mature partner. So the world would be wise to side
with the AK Party, not seek a return of the discredited generals.

LEVON ARONIAN REGISTERS POOR START AT AMBER TOURNAMENT

Aysor
March 15 2010
Armenia

Armenia’s Grand Master Levon Aronian won over Sergei Kariakin in a
‘rapid’ round of the 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament,
being held in Nice; however, Aronian fixed a poor start in ‘rapid’
and ‘blind’ sets with Magnus Carlsen.

After Round II, held on Sunday, Levon Aronian with a point seeded
eights at a ‘rapid’ contest, and shares with Leinier Dominguez 11-12th
places at a ‘blind’ one.

The tournament table is lead by Vasily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomaryev,
followed by Peter Svidler and Vladimir Kramnik at 2.5 points each.

92 ISSUES INCLUDED IN AGENDA OF NA FOUR-DAY SESSION THAT BEGAN ON MARCH 15

Noyan Tapan
March 15, 2010

YEREVAN, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN. A regular four-day session of the
RA National Assembly began on March 15. 92 issues, including 22
international agreements, are on the agenda.

Among the agenda issues are the Protocol on the Establishment of
Diplomatic Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic
of Turkey, and the Protocol on the Development of Relations between
the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey which were signed
in Zurich on 10 October 2009.

However, as the Speaker of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamian
declared in response to a question of Heritage opposition faction’s
member Armen Martirosian, the political majority of the parliament
will adhere to their decision: the protocols will be discussed at
Armenia’s National Assembly only after their ratification by Turkish
parliament. As regards the likelihood that the executive authority
will withdraw the protocols from the National Assembly, according to
H. Abrahamian, it is a decision to be taken by the country’s president
and the foreign ministry which are responsible for the foreign policy.

The NA speaker did not agree with the opposition deputy’s claim that
the recent statements made by official representatives of Turkey were
"slaps in Armenia’s face". "An idle talk is not a slap in the face,
and if any authorities (I mean the Turkish authorities) sign a protocol
without any preconditions and then they do not ratify that protocol
and start making statements against protocol signing, I neither take
such authorities seriously nor consider them as serious," H. Abrahamian
said, adding that Turkish authorities "don’t have a serious attitude
to the protocols they signed".

ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR PARTICIPATES IN CHILEAN PRESIDENT’S INAUGURATION CEREMONY

Tert.am
11:19 ~U 15.03.10

On March 10, Armenian Ambassador Vladimir Karmirshalyan, who was in
Chile to participate in the new president’s inauguration ceremony,
met with then-President of Chile Michelle Bachelet and passed on RA
President Serzh Sargsyan’s sympathies for the hundreds of victims
from the recent earthquake.

The following day, Karmirshalyan participated in new president
Sebastian Piñera’s inauguration ceremony.

The ambassaor then visited the Chilean-Armenian community’s gathering
place in the capital of Santiago. Discussed during the meeting
with community representatives were opportunities for more active
participation from Chilean-Armenians in Armenian-Diaspora cooperation.

SWEDEN RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE OF 1915

Arutz Sheva
March 12 2010
Israel

(IsraelNN.com) The Swedish parliament narrowly approved a resolution
on Thursday recognizing the World War I-era mass killing of Armenians
in by the Turkish Ottoman Empire as genocide, prompting the Turkish
government to recall its ambassador in protest. The measure passed
with a one-vote margin in a surprise decision that came a week after
a United States congressional committee approved a similar resolution.